Finders Keepers by Janek Sielicki, D&D 5th Edition Adventure Review

There are great forces of good and evil in the world. In the Forgotten Realms the forces are always on the prowl, looking for ways to improve their position against their adversaries. Information has surfaced about the Book of Keeping, a magical artifact containing the true names of some of the stronger evil creatures living in the dimensions. Names that can bind the creatures of evil into the service to those who know them.

Janek Sielicki’s adventure Finders Keepers is for a party of 20^th level, Dungeons and Dragons 5^th edition, characters. Either by choice or accident, the party finds themselves in the middle of a world changing situation. It is a paced adventure that was written for players who might not have played such heroic levels before.

In Sielicki's introduction he states his desire to create an adventure for players who don't get a lot of opportunity for playing characters at this level as a standalone scenario. And, at the same time, provide an adventure that can be inserted into an existing campaign or be used as a starting point for more high-level adventures. I received a PDF copy of Finders Keepers for review purposes. This is the third adventure of Sielicki's I've reviewed and the first set in the D&D 5^th edition system.

Finders Keepers delivers a grand adventure for inexperienced and experienced players. There are some limitations in the writing because of the publishing requirements, however, the challenges created are fitting to create the grand scale players expect from an adventure at this level. Sielicki also delivers on the opportunity of an adventure for players who have experience with only lower level characters.

A selection of twelve characters is included, each a different class. The characters are presented in two formats, with and without magic. These options give players and dungeon masters (DMs) options on how to handle the game. The various levels of preparation given means players can spend more or less time getting ready, or personalizing, for the adventure. As the DM, this allows you to do some customization for your players to create a game to their style of play.

Players can also create their own characters, or bring existing characters for Finders Keepers. The variety of characters emphasizes that Finders Keepers is written to allow players options on how they play the adventure. There are hooks and ending scenarios allowing players to take different paths to a conclusion of this adventure, or for setting up future play. It is wonderful to see how he created a multiple possible endings.

The Book

The PDF I reviewed has some nice attributes. I was happy to see the file had already been bookmarked so it was easy to use and allowed me to make quick reference between sections.

The artwork supports the epic grandeur of the adventure. The art used also breaks the writing up nicely to give separation along with story support. This flows over into the maps.

Maps are prepared for players and DMs. Player maps have been created on their own pages, so they can be printed, or shown, without the DM being concerned about displaying too much information.

The first 54 pages of this 71-page book is the adventure. The last section is about how Sielicki created and developed his adventure. He keeps his final article focused on the process used for creating this for Dungeon Master's Guild. It is good information in general for anyone wanting to write adventured for them, other groups, or for their own.

The Adventure

Finders Keeper is an adventure in three chapters. Each chapter has some massive combat, as it should for characters of this level, which is also fitting for the game system. There are also other challenges to take the characters beyond the combat.

Everything starts in the city of Phlan in the Forgotten Realms. Don't let this turn you away if you are not using that setting. If you are using that setting and have used some of the supplemental information, it might not follow to what you have. In either case, enough information is given in the adventure about what is needed in the location to adjust it to fit in other settings or in an existing storyline.

The encounters are built to provide the experience of playing epic level characters. Sielicki keeps with the games namesake and has a battle with a dragon. I would expect this in an adventure wanting to provide an experience of playing high levels for those who might not have done it ever before. This is the opening encounter and he steps it up from there.

The adventure continues, and characters are faced with dealing with others of epic abilities. The party encounters demons, devils, angels, and gods. The challenges are not just how characters fight, but include challenges to make the players think through what they are doing, and why.

All of this comes together at the end of the adventure, which can also be your beginning. The development of events with different outcomes allows the DM and their players to take what is started here and continue. Fulfilling the goal of creating a high-level adventure that can be the springboard for a new campaign.

Overall

Finders Keepers is another successful adventure from Janek Sielicki. There are multiple levels of play taking place. It doesn't limit players to having to be the heroic do-gooders or agents of a particular side in a conflict. It doesn't even require the players to be on the same side as other players (of course that takes more work for players and DMs).

Finders Keeper can be used in an existing campaign, for starting a new campaign, or as a stand-alone adventure.

On the down side, I noticed the copy editing in this adventure was not at the same level of the other two adventures I have reviewed from Sielicki. If you are a grammar fanatic, it might cause some concern. The items I noticed didn't take away from the impact of the adventure. So, I suggest overlook the minor issues and dive into the greater scale of the ideas being presented.

I recommend Finders Keepers for the pure enjoyment of being involved in battles and situations of the magnitude presented.

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